laughs when the news anchor insists he isn't out campaigning for anyone:
John Roberts states, "Excuse me, Joe. Why would you cast aspersions on my
journalistic integrity. I don't even know you?"
Let's take a look Roberts' journalistic integrity. I did a quick Google search and found
that Mr. Roberts isn't always fair and balanced.
Compare and contrast how Mr. Roberts interviewed Sen. John McCain and
President-elect Obama. Here's Roberts interviewing Mr. Obama:
Here is how Mr. Roberts interviewed Sen. McCain. Is it just me or was much
nicer to Mr. Obama?
Here is Mr. Roberts taking Mitt Romney to task over something he said on his
program. I can't find an opinion piece Mr. Roberts wrote negating something said
by a Democrat on his program.
Here is Mr. Roberts on the Laura Ingraham's radio program defending a piece
that appears to be severely one-sided. Although, I do give him credit for going
on the show and defending it, even if his defense was somewhat weak.
Here is a partial transcript of an interview Mr. Roberts did during the whole
Scott McClellan fiasco:
MIKE ALLEN, POLITICO.COM: Well, John, that's right. And you hear
Republicans saying things like 'pathetic' and even making fun of the title,
saying that instead of being called 'What Happened' it should be called
'What Happened?'
ROBERTS: He claims that President Bush used 'propaganda to sell the
war.' Let's look at what he says in the book. 'And his advisers confused
the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so
fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during
a time of war.' He finally articulates what we all came to believe,
Mike,and further goes on to say that this war was unnecessary.
Way to stay neutral and objective, Mr. Roberts.
Here is talk show host Hugh Hewitt explaining to anchor John Roberts during
the election that the news media are highlighting Gov. Palin's gaffes and ignoring
Joe Biden gaffe's by using repetition and emphasis and Roberts doesn't seem
to understand where Hewitt is coming from. Partial transcript:
ROBERTS: So here's a question many people are asking. Why do they not
put her out there more? Since she was nominated she's done three major
network interviews, one sort of off the cuff gaggle with the traveling press
at the ground zero and she's done a couple of radio interviews including
yours. In the same period of time, Joe Biden has been out more than 90
times. He did the spin post debate Friday night after the Mississippi debate.
Why are they not putting her out there more?
HEWITT: My guess is that the charge of the light brigade is in their mind.
They know that there are literally 1,000 mainstream media reporters
representing hard left points of view in the media outlets that are
represented by the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" and
your network and the other big networks that are waiting to ambush her.
As a result, they're going to try and gauge what the situation is out there.
They did not rush off to conservative media. They did not rush off to new
media. They simply said let's have time with the voters. Let's have some
time with John McCain to get up to speed on some crucial issues.
And Joe Biden he can go out and do 90 different interviews,
John, because no matter what he says, you guys don't care. The
other day he stood up and said FDR addressed the country on television
at the time of the great panic of 1929. Well he wasn't the president. There
wasn't television and yet Joe Biden doesn't pay any kind of price. Can
you imagine if Sarah Palin had said FDR addressed the nation on the
day of the great crash on television?
ROBERTS: In fairness, Hugh, we actually did do a piece on Joe Biden's
gaffes just the other day.
HEWITT: On Joe Biden's gaffes but on that one.
ROBERTS: Yes, we did.
HEWITT: Can you imagine what would have happened to Sarah Palin?
ROBERTS: We did mention that one.
HEWITT: Again John, it's not about mentioned. It's about the emphasis
and repetition. If Sarah Palin had said that FDR spoke on television as
president in 1929, do you doubt for a moment honestly that it would have
led every newspaper in America and would have dominated every media
broadcast for three days?
Doing a piece on Joe Biden's gaffes is not the equivalent of continually running sound
bites of Gov. Palin's gaffes. You can watch the video here.
So by doing a simple Google search I found examples of CNN's John Roberts throwing
his own journalistic integrity out the door so it fits his political agenda. Perhaps Joe
the Plumber was perfectly right to laugh.
Update: I just wanted to confirm Newsbuster's transcripts about Mr. Roberts saying,
"He finally articulates what we all came to believe..." Sure enough I found the CNN
transcripts. He did say that.